Why You Should Work With A Personal Trainer

This past week at a seminar in Arizona, I spoke to a personal trainer in Tucson about training martial artists and he had some interesting feedback based on his experience with local MMA guys. The bottom line was that these guys were not prepared for 3 rounds of battle in an octagon. While Aikido practitioners don’t have to worry about combat competition, hiring a personal trainer still has many benefits. Many martial artists don’t realize how valuable it is to incorporate plyometrics and cross-fit activities into their everyday training. Everyday people who don’t train to fight, but train to stay in shape will benefit even more from hiring a personal trainer. But a martial artist doesn’t necessarily reach the cardio levels during training needed to prepare properly for a competition. Going through the motions in the gym is one thing, but engaging a threat on the street requires much more. In a real life situation or even in competition the body drains resources that are not typically accessed during normal training routines. When it comes to a Martial Art like Aikido it’s safe to say that cardio vascular exercise is not part of the Kata performed in the dojo. The reality is that I see more heavier set people training in Aikido than fit people. Aikido doesn’t require the athleticism that Taekwondo and Jiujitsu may require for competition or even sparring. A heavy individual can really leverage that weight in Aikido, but a healthy fit individual can enjoy a long healthy life of training. Personal trainers know much more about diet and exercise than most martial arts instructors. Like the arts, diet and exercise is a science that needs to be applied on a per-person basis since everyone is different. Aikido is taught the same way to everyone, a technique is a technique. But diet and exercise should be custom plans built around age, weight, ability, and time. Not everyone has time to train in the dojo and then in the gym with a personal trainer, so modifying schedules to work in favor of the average person is beneficial to all. Professional athletes that train and compete for a living have a different schedule than most of us. It doesn’t matter if you are new to martial arts, have been training for years, or own your own dojo, a personal trainer can provide added value to your training. The arts have revolved around a mind, body, and spirit approach and if the body is not in tune with the mind the execution of techniques can suffer. Mental clarity and physical health are both important factors when trying to perfect your art and achieve a black belt. There are plenty of overweight, unhealthy black belts out there, you can still achieve that goal out of shape, but the martial arts practitioner that wants more from their training then just a certificate and a belt should consider the added value that a personal trainer brings. Diet, exercise, and weight training will absolutely improve your training and can also prevent injury. A stronger body is more durable and can stand up to the impact one might face when taking a throw or receiving a blow in training. I thought I would share this with my followers as I have seen more people coming into the dojo to train that are not in shape. It is my belief that a healthy body will feed a healthy mind and together they will improve your martial arts training no matter the art or your age.